Oklahoma man sets speed record at Bonneville

Loyd “Hooley” Huffman, of Chelsea, Okla., and a Neosho (Mo.) High School class of 1964 graduate, has broken his own speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah.

Todd G. Higdon

Loyd “Hooley” Huffman, Chelsea, of Okla., and a Neosho High School class of 1964 graduate, has broken his own speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah.

Hooley drove a 1953 Studebaker with the number 974 on it.

“The 974 set a new land speed record for B/BGCC (B engine size, blown gas, competion couple) at 249.945 mph, with a top speed of 253 mph,” said John Kimbrough of Neosho, Huffman's crew chief. “Hooley broke his own 2006 record of 236.921 mph.”

The 60th annual Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Week was held the week of Aug. 18. There were 530 entries at Speedweek and 172 new speed records were certified. A total of 2,488 runs were made down the three courses prepared by the Southern California Timing Association.

“Racers converge on the salt flats from around the world,” Kimbrough said. “This year, there were a large number of entries and spectators from Australia and New Zealand. And this year, while everyone competed for records, they were being filmed for a TV show on the Discovery Channel.”

“Studebaker is a car that does really well at Bonneville because the air passes over them really good, which is very important,” Kimbrough said. “So you see a lot of Studebakers and this is probably the second or third fastest one that has ever ran there.”

Noting that it was a lot of work, Kimbrough said they were all really excited about the new speed record.

Huffman said he, too, was impressed.

“I guess that that first time has got to be the greatest,” Huffman said. “It seemed like everything fell together this year. there was very little problems to go with it. Things really went smooth.”

As crew chief, Kimbrough has a huge responsibility.

“I make things for the car and I kind of organize everything, which it takes a lot of organizing,” said Kimbrough. “I have check lists and kinds of things to be sure, things done right. You forget one little thing and you waist a whole year’s work.”

The car also has some newer safety measures in place.

“One of the things that I did this year was to make a big gray tank (located on the inside passenger side),” Kimbrough said. “It gave us more coolant water.”

Kimbrough also moved the parachute lever from the roof to the right shoulder.

“He has arm restraints to keep him in. If the car should roll, the arms will not come out of the cage,” added Kimbrough.

And the Bonneville Salt Flats are an important race, Kimbrough said.

“Many of the world’s fastest drivers from other motor sports are current record holders at Bonneville,” said Kimbrough. “The atmosphere at the salt flats is very unique compared with other racing events. Most everyone on the salt is ready to help anyone else set a new record. Even the current record holders encourage others to beat their speed.”

The car began with the rusted hull of a 1953 Studebaker that was resting on top of a pile of other cars in an auto salvage yard near Goodman. The car took nearly two years to build. The first attempt took place in August 2004.

“That year, we were able to have the car certified as being safe to compete and made the necessary runs on the course to have Hooley licensed to drive up to 250 mph,” Kimbrough said. “In the following years, we have made attempts at the records for our car. Some years’ runs went well and others were disappointments, but they were always good experiments. Good friends, working together, to do something special, are always a good experience."

“One of the things that we are talking about doing is, we are at the point now where it is getting really dangerous,” Kimbrough added. “The car goes airborne real easy at this point. And we saw cars go airborne. We are doing a lot of talking and thinking about it to go to a smaller engine and not go as fast. The car is a competitive car. (But) at this pint, the future is uncertain.”

Neosho Daily News

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